Telephones have existed for over a century and have proven to be an indispensable part of modern society. While telephones were initially crude devices with limited functionality, they have evolved into several varieties with increasing feature sets. One variety that has been around for years are cordless or portable phones. Rather than being limited by the length of a cord connecting a receiver to a base unit of the phone, a wireless radio transmitter communicates radio signals between the receiver and the base unit to provide freedom for the user to carry on a conversation anywhere within range of the base unit.
Cordless phones have been common for decades in the consumer market, mostly being used in residential settings. Other industries, such as hospitality and health care, have been more limited in their use of cordless phones. Cordless phones may allow a guest staying at a hotel to bring the phone to the pool, fitness center, or other area within range of the base unit in the guest's hotel room to take advantage of the facilities, while remaining in contact by phone. This enables the hotel to retain potential revenue generated by the telephone, while allowing the guests the freedom to wander within and leave their room. In addition to convenience, there are other reasons, such as safety and handicap accessibility, for wanting to provide a cordless phone to hotel guests.
A number of reasons exist, however, for the lack of acceptance of cordless phones in non-residential settings. Initial cost and potential damage to the handset are two issues. Another main issue is that cordless phones are more easily lost or stolen by the very nature of its being un-tethered from the base unit. This drives up the cost to the hotel, cruise line, hospital or other phone owner, in order to replace the missing equipment.
Similar to television remotes that only work with a specific “hotel model” of a television, cordless telephone handsets may be altered to work only with the “hotel model” of the base unit. However, guests do not always realize the handset will not work with the devices that they own at their own home, preventing this from being an effective deterrent to curb the rate at which the telephones, and the handsets in particular, are stolen or otherwise lost or misplaced.